Second Chances
by Yasminda
Summary: Grissom is held hostage and the team must find a way to help him...GSR
1. Chapter 1

"What is that?" She asked, walking in to her boss' office. She was looking at him with a disgusted, yet not surprised look on her face.

"My new experiment…have you eaten yet?" he asked, rather randomly.

"..uh, yeah. I just had a veggie burger. What does that have to do with anything?" She was now not only disgusted but confused...which was not uncommon when dealing with her boss.

"Then you don't want to know. Trust me. What are you doing here so early anyways? Shift doesn't start for another hour."

"I could ask you the same question…" Sara retorted, giving a quick eyebrow shrug, enough to not have to give the real reason why she was early.

"Touché" Grissom replied. "Paperwork from the Lemieux case. Now guess what dayshift left us…" he teased.

"You got me…what'd we get?"

Grissom thought about that for a moment. _I have her. Do I?_ Through a little grin he said, "A bomb took out three floors in an apartment building. You and I are taking Greg on this one. He's gotta learn more than just B & E's and this'll be a good one, I think."

"Sounds good. Is he in yet?"

"No. I don't think so."

"Ok well, I'm going to see about some coffee…you want a cup?" She offered.

"No thanks. And you probably don't want any either…" He said, frowning, remembering the usual swill in the coffee pot he saw on his way in. Then he added, "I was going to wait until Greg got in to grab some of his 'special brew'"

Sara let the disgusted look creep back to her face for a moment then smiled and nodded.

"Will do. Good point." Then she was gone.

Grissom stared at the doorway after her, wishing she were still there. Her presence always seemed to brighten a room and when she left he was again plunged into metaphorical darkness. He found himself looking forward to the start of their shift just to be with her.

Sara had told him, subtly, that she liked him, and the rest of the crew knew she was infatuated with him. He, however, wasn't so forthcoming with his emotions. He couldn't be, he was her boss. Aside from that, he had a difficult time expressing his feelings for her. Even though he knew it was more than friendship, he would never admit to it and let himself be that vulnerable. Never again…he had sworn himself. He'd let her in only as much as was needed for the purpose of working together civilly and if that hurt her in the meantime, it was better than what could happen in the long run, if he let this happen. So far it was working for him. Except for the physical pain in his chest every time he saw her and couldn't hold her…except for that…He couldn't think of this now. He had to get back to work.

"Hey Bossman!" He heard and saw Greg saunter into his office. Miffed that he'd let someone startle him, Grissom was more blunt than he wanted, "What is it Greg?"

"Just checkin' in…and…" Greg paused for dramatic effect, "I come bearing gifts!" He said as he pulled a mug of coffee from behind his back. "Sara said you wanted some. She also said that you're taking me along in the field tonight…that's really great! I was starting to get tired of B&E's…although it's better than…" Greg continued to ramble excitedly but Grissom cut him off.

"Yes Greg. I'm taking you out tonight. I'll…"

It was Greg's turn to interrupt. "Just so long as we cuddle afterwards…" a goofy grin appeared on the young CSI's face. Grissom sighed, shook his head and said, "I'll come find you guys in about 15 minutes."

"Okie dokie!" Greg said and turned for the door.

Grissom, not wanting to be rude to his enthusiastic apprentice said, "Greg? Thanks for the coffee" This brought a sincere smile to the young man's face as he left Grissom's office.

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them were in the Denali driving to their crime scene. Grissom let Sara drive (he hated to drive) and he sat in the passenger seat while Greg sat in the back seat drumming his fingers to the beat of a mysterious song in his head. _At least he's not singing_ Grissom thought, slightly annoyed.

Another couple minutes passed until Grissom's finely attuned sense of smell picked up a pleasant odor. He's never smelled it before and sniffed the air some more to find out where it was emanating from.

"Greg, did you bring some food with you? Some kind of fruit?"

"Uh, no." was Greg's answer, his fingers having stopped their drumming. Grissom turned to Sara and asked, "You?"

She shook her head, her eyes never leaving the road. And then he got another wave of the intoxicating smell. Realizing that the second wave had hit him when Sara had shaken her head, his curiosity got the better of him and he leaned closer to Sara and sniffed the air. Greg seemed amused in the back as Sara quipped, "Griss, what are you doing?"

"Are you wearing perfume?" he queried, now knowing the smell came from her.

"No."

"A new deodorant?"

"Grissom! No!...Oh but," she paused, "I did start using a new shampoo. Is it too strong?"

Grissom leaned out of his seat and gently took a handful of Sara's hair and brought it to his face. Since she was driving, Sara could not pull away, not that she'd wanted to. As soon as he touched her hair she felt shivers run down her neck and spine. The contact was electric and she had to fight the urge to close her eyes and let her senses take over. Was there something more there than just smelling her hair (like any investigator would get used to the smells around him)? He seemed to caress the hair as he took it; like if it were something fragile and delicate. _No, Sara. Don't fall for this again. He doesn't love you. Get over it!_ she scolded herself.

They arrived at the scene and parked the Denali amidst all the emergency vehicles. They each grabbed their field kit from the back of the truck and a wide-eyed, eager Greg said,

"Ok Boss, what do you want me to do?"

"Relax, Greggo…we have to find Brass first." Sara answered as she saw her supervisor pull out his cell phone and punch in Brass' number.

"Brass."

"Hi Jim, we're here. Where are you?" Grissom asked, seeing no sign of the Captain.

"Ok, stay put for a second. I'll be right there."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Forgot this on the first chapter...I don't own the characters...just borrow them for a little extra reading...**

And Grissom snapped his cell phone shut. They crouched under the yellow tape and stood amongst the debris. Grissom's eyes narrowed as he looked around, getting a feel for the area surrounding him. His gaze stopped when it landed on Sara, her hair blowing in the wind as she narrowed her eyes, contemplating the scene too. Sara had grown a lot as a CSI since her arrival in Las Vegas. She had picked up her co-workers characteristics as well as learned from their individual skills. This made Sara to be on of the most talented CSI's he'd ever worked with.

Their relationship had become friendship and everything was going perfectly between them until that one day…the day when Sara asked him to dinner. It was the start of everything he could have dreamed. A little ray of light in the world of darkness his job proved to him existed, every day. Despite the fact of being a scientist and loving solving crimes, they were morbid puzzles and live proof – well not live actually…but proof none the less – of the destructive nature of human beings. Sara was a break from that. Although they worked these sometimes horrible cases together, she was his sunlight keeping his world from being completely plunged into darkness.

Presently, her eyes surveilled the scene before them and finally ended by meeting with his. Her eyes lost their narrow concentration as she realized he was staring at her. _It's that look that keeps me coming back…There's got to be something more there._ thought Sara, seeing, feeling the emotion in Grissom's eyes as he watched her with a distinct gentleness. Then Sara waved as she saw Captain Brass approaching from behind Grissom.

"Hey guys. Quite a crime scene you guys have drawn today…" he said, nodding to the chaotic mess of debris at their feet. "Where are you going to start?"

"You tell us Jim. Do you have any information for us at all?"

"You didn't think I'd leave you high and dry right off the bat did you?" he smirked.

"Superintendent's been having trouble with tenants in apartment 2A and 3A. One apartment above the other. Says they've been fighting constantly, complaining against each other almost every other day. He knew they were both bad news but couldn't evict them on no grounds so tried to placate them until one of their leases came up. 2A was supposed to leave in a month. I guess that wasn't soon enough. He's one of your DB's…" Brass said and gave a shrug.

"Who's the other?" Greg asked.

"This is where things get confusing…the 2nd vic is the guy from 3A." He gave a shake of his head as if saying 'No idea how that works out'.

"Ok well let's get to work. Greg, work with Sara and do a spiral pattern starting out and working your way in. I'm going to try to find the ignition site and go from there."

They nodded and turned to leave but Grissom called Sara back to him. He motioned her to get closer. When she got within an arm's length, Grissom looked over at Greg expectantly. For a few moments, Greg just stood there, looking at his boss, confused. Then he picked up on Grissom's cues, grinned sheepishly and walked a little further away. Sara turned back towards Grissom and found him standing only a few inches away. He was so close she could feel the heat emanating from his body, she could smell his breath. Suddenly she felt a hand press against her lower back and her breath caught in her throat. Twice in one day, Grissom's touch had inebriated her. She felt powerless to pull away and powerless to make the leap forward. She had taken that risk once and he'd turned her down. She looked at him, his eyes just inches away from hers, his mouth, so close…he leaned in and brought his mouth to her ear.

Sara drew in a quick breath and heard Grissom say, "I want you to purposely miss some evidence tonight. Work ahead of Greg and see if he picks it up. Don't make it obvious, but I need to see if he's ready to go solo."

Sara let out the breath she was holding, somewhat disappointed. She closed her eyes briefly and smiled inwardly at herself. _You fool! You do this to yourself every time. You get your hopes up, waiting, hoping….and then you get crushed. He's never gonna feel the same what about you that you do about him._ When she opened her eyes again after only a second Grissom had pulled away from her ear but was still only a couple inches away rom her face and his hand remained on her back. She saw his eyes glance down at her lips and then drift back up to her eyes again. This time the emotion in his face was unmistakable but Sara refused to let her mind indulge in it. She dismissed the thought and as she nodded and took a slow step back it registered that the loss of contact was evidently unpleasant for both of them. Grissom blinked and when his eyes reopened, he had regained the professional supervisor air he wore daily. It was the role she admired professionally, but hated personally.

Sara turned to find Greg and did, not far away. Satisfied that Grissom was heading inside the fallen building, Greg threw his arm across his forehead and exclaimed dramatically,

"I'm crushed! Oh! What ever will I do!"

Sara gave him an exasperated look and they began photographing and documenting the debris. They worked in silence, Sara, slightly ahead of him, like Grissom had asked. She mentally noted how much evidence there was and how long it would take them to separate what was relevant and what was not. She stopped in front of a piece of metal. It was cylindrical and had threading along one end such as basic plumbing would have. What stayed in her mind was that plumbing would usually break off in big chunks, only coming apart at the weaker spots. She made mental note of it and photographed it as she did everything else but did not say anything and waited to see if Greg would bag it. She continued placing markers to scrap and a few minutes later Greg called her over.

"Sara, does this piece look bizarre to you?"

"Bizarre how, Greg? I mean it's just piping like any old plumber would use…" She smiled inwardly while maintaining her confused act on the outside.

"Yeah, you can get this at any building store but ...installed plumbing would break apart at the weak spots; joints and re-curved areas...this piece...it's smaller than regular plumbing and the broken edge is smooth. No tool marks, so it wasn't cut." He looked at her, holding up the piece of metal in a gloved hand so she could see what he was referring to.

Sara smiled a wide, gap-toothed smile and said, "I agree. Bag it." Greg smiled and frowned at the same time. He took an evidence bag out of his pocket and bagged the fragment. He identified it and returned it to his kit. This game continued for a few hours and remembering that they hadn't heard from Grissom in a length of time, Sara decided to call him.

"Grissom." Her boss answered after the 2nd ring.

"Griss where are you? Did you find the source of the blast?"

"No. Not yet. I'm presently searching the 2nd floor. When a bomb explodes, it affects everything in a 360 radius...spherical...right?" he asked rhetorically but she answered anyways. "Yeah."

"Well that's why I'm searching the 2nd floor. 1A, 2A and 3A were affected but nothing above that. How's Greg doing?"

"Great...uh..." she was unsure if her younger counterpart was listening.

"Is he picking up on everything you're leaving behind?"

"Yes, everything." She silently thanked her boss for reading her mind.

"Good. I thought so. Well I'll let you know as soon as I find something concrete and I'm..."

Sara heard a breaking sound through the earpiece of her cellphone and distant crashing sounds behind her immediately following. She heard Grissom's grunt and drop his phone. The connection was lost.

"Griss?" She demanded through the phone. "Grissom, answer me!" Nothing. Panicking, Sara ran past Greg toward the apartment building her camera in hand. Brass spotted her from a distance and when she didn't respond after hearing her name, he called on two firefighters and followed her into the building. She took the stairs quickly, nimbly. It was obvious that she was an avid runner, she didn't even slow when approaching them.

"Grissom?" she called out. No answer still. "Grissom, please..."she sighed heavily, her whole soul crying out with it, "please answer me..."

A small voice answered her from behind a piece of flooring that had fallen from the upper level. The firemen stepped in front of her and hefted the debris off a wincing Gil Grissom.

"Damn it! Gil, you ok?" Brass asked, obviously relieved to find his friend in one piece.

"Yeah...I'm alright." he lied. Sara stood where she was, staring at him. She seemed to be made of wax, not moving, like a statue in a museum, except for one single tear rolling down her cheek.

"Sara, Honey, I'm ok. Really." He soothed, trying to convince her. But Brass contradicted him by ripping a sleeve off his shirt and wrapping Grissom's left arm. Grissom looked down at his arm and noticed a deep gash across the top of it. It was bleeding heavily. He winced as one of the firemen helped hem to his feet.

Only a few steps were needed to bring him to Sara's side and with his good arm he brushed his thumb over her cheek, wiping away her tear. She gave him a weak smile, slightly comforted, and placed her arms around him tightly in a hug.

As much as she told herself that she was giving up on the idea of being with him, she couldn't deny her feelings. When she had heard the loud crashing sound behind her, her heart had seemed to stop beating. Her breath had caught in her throat and she had panicked. Panicked at the thought of losing a friend and panicked at the thought of losing the one man that could've possibly been 'the one'. And now that she knew he was ok, now that she could see him with her own eyes, alive and breathing, she started to calm down and the reality of it all hit her like she'd been the one trapped in the crumbling building. All her feelings came gushing forth and it took all her will power not to simply blurt them out to avoid losing the opportunity.

She had almost lost the opportunity to tell him exactly how she felt and she didn't want to risk it again. But now was not the time. They had to get out of here as they were loudly reminded by the crashing she heard around them.

"Get out of here now! Let's go! Let's go!" the firemen yelled. A startled Sara released Grissom's neck and they turned in the direction of the stairs. Grissom stopped suddenly and stared hard at an area on the rug, or what was left of it. A bell sounded in his mind when he recognized the burn pattern across the floor and up the wall where the two connected. Immediately, he turned back to Sara, pointing at the spot he was focused on. Before he could ask her to take a couple shots, she had seen the burn pattern and had her camera in hand. She had snapped five shots when the last fireman ushered them urgently out of the building, Sara taking snapshots the whole way out.

Grissom sat on a stretcher while the paramedic tended to his arm. A few feet away Sara sat on the steps at the back of the ambulance, her head lowered against her chest, deep in thought. Grissom watched her, wondering what she was contemplating. She seemed to transition seamlessly through a myriad of facial expressions from happy and calm to worried, then embarrassment. He knew he should say something to reassure her, to thank her but he simply could not find the words. She suddenly seemed to snap out of her reverie and looked up at him. A tight, half-smile touched her lips and she looked around, then back to Grissom she said, "I'm going to find Greg and take our evidence back to the lab..." And in a hurry, she was gone.

Still surprised by her quick disappearance, Grissom sat on his stretcher another few minutes before getting up and heading over to Brass' unmarked vehicle. It was time. He could no longer ignore the way he felt about Sara and his mind was made up that today was the day.

"Jim?"

"Yeah, Gil?" Grissom hesitated but then mentally kicked himself into gear, "Can you drive me back to the lab?"

"Sure. Your guys done here?"

"Uh...no. But we need some more supplies." It was a lie. They were always fully stocked. Nonetheless he hoped Brass would buy it. Despite the captain's creeping suspicions, he agreed and they both got in the Taurus.

The drive back was pretty silent but Jim Brass broke it by asking, "Does this have anything to do with what happened in that building?"

"Huh?... No." Grissom answered quickly. A little too quickly.

"Gil, what do I do for a living?" Grissom just stared at his driver.

"I interrogate people Gil. You don't think I have some idea when they're lying?" He asked calmly, a smirk forming across his face. Grissom didn't say anything and after a few minutes Brass continued, "You have to tell her Gil. Tell her before it's too late." Whether it was because of his career or because he was a good friend, Jim Brass was a convincing man.

"That's the plan." was all Grissom had to say.


	3. Chapter 3

Grissom walked into his office quickly, trying to avoid everybody. He didn't want to face all the questions about what had happened and he wanted to change before pouring his heart out to Sara. He closed the door behind him and pulled the shirt from the hook on the back of the door. As he slipped the fresh shirt over his head (to avoid having to try fastening any buttons) he heard a man's voice say, "Hello Mr CSI man."

Grissom slipped his head out of the neck opening in the shirt and saw a man sitting at his desk. Had he been there when he walked in? He was angered by the fact that he couldn't remember. A CSI's perceptiveness is one of his greatest assets and for Grissom to have missed someone seated in _his_ chair. As if seeing the question in Grissom's eyes, the man said, "I've been hidden behind your desk for about 2 hours now. What took you so long?" He asked rhetorically. _that's strange_ Grissom thought.

"Did I miss our appointment?" the supervisor asked, knowing full well he did not. Who took appointments at 3:30am? But it was a safer way to ask, without being rude.

"Who needs an appointment when we're old friends?" He smirked. "Dr Grissom, you don't remember me? My name is..."

"Jerome Thayer." Grissom finished for him.

"That's right! You put my family behind bars 10 years ago. I just got out...happy to see me?"

"The bomb in that apartment building...that was your work?"

"Yes." A bright smile lit up his sociopathic face.

"Can I ask why you're here?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" he said. Getting up from Grissom's chair, he started to remove his jacket, making himself at home. What caught Grissom's eye was the blinking red light on the man's chest and as he unzipped the rest of his jacket, the CSI supervisor made the fearful realization that this man was covered in C-4. He took a deep breath, "I realize you're angry..." Grissom was cut off.

"ANGRY? If you'd hit me I'd be angry. If you stole my girl I'd be angry. You took away 10 years of my life!" he yelled. "Lock the door."

Grissom had no choice, he did as the man asked.

"I'm glad you know the meaning of compliance. That'll make this a lot easier. I want you to shut up and listen to what I had to go through because of you."

Grissom nodded but the intruder didn't even get the chance to start. The doorknob rattled.

"Grissom?" a muffled voice said from beyond the door. It was Catherine.

"Grissom what are you doing in there? We heard screaming?"

"Who is that?" Jerome quietly demanded to know.

"Catherine Willows. My second in command." he replied after a while, deciding the information couldn't hurt.

"Oh yeah? Cool. Well…how do we tell her she'll soon be the first in command?"

Grissom's eyes shut briefly as he struggled to keep composure, and reopened them to look at his kidnapper.

"Grissom?" Catherine called again.

"Oh…I have an idea…let's see if she picks up on it." He got closer to the door and opened the shades in the side window letting her peer inside. He stood there wand put his arm proudly around Grissom's neck, showing off the dynamite strapped to his chest.

Catherine's jaw dropped and her eyes widened and locked with Grissom's. Suddenly the blinds were shut again and Catherine stood in the hall, trying to make sense of what she had just seen. Then she heard the man yell "Back off!" from within the office. She took one step back, then another and bumped into Warrick.

"Hey…woah…Cath you alright?" he asked, seeing her facial expression.

She turned to him and managed to stammer out, "cell phone…give me your…cell phone." as she pulled him down the hallway, away from Grissom's office but still in sight.

"Sure." Warrick said questioningly. "Where's yours?" he asked, removing his cell from his jacket pocket and handing it to her.

"Don't know." She absentmindedly answered. After punching in the Sheriff's number she held the phone to her ear and clutched onto Warrick's shirt at the waist, keeping him there. She needed some reassurance, some form of support. Warrick placed one hand on Catherine's shoulder and he saw Sara approaching them.

"What's going on?" Sara queried. Warrick shook his head in response and added a shrug to emphasize his point that he had no clue. When Catherine started talking, or rather blurting out, Warrick and Sara's eyes went wide with disbelief and fear. Sara walked to Grissom's office window and tried to see inside, in vain. She returned to them, panicked. Catherine was now off the phone and in Warrick's arms. Sara faced them and raised her voice, "Well? What do we do? We have to do something!"

"Catherine, what do you know?" asked Warrick, pulling her ever so slightly away from him and bending his head down to look at her. Catherine regained her composure and got into work mode at this question.

"Not much…Grissom's door was locked but I had just seen him go inside. When I knocked, he didn't answer. I knocked again and the blinds next to the door opened. I saw a man with his arm around Gil's shoulders and he had…dynamite strapped to his chest." She looked at Warrick, "there was enough there to blow the whole lab away."

"Guys! What do we do!" Sara demanded, on the verge of tears.

"Sara, calm down. We'll help him but you have to lower your voice, if the man hears you…" Warrick didn't have time to finish. Sara stormed off toward the locker room

Catherine and Warrick looked at each other, wondering what that was all about. Neither of them said anything and Catherine closed her eyes briefly. When she reopened them, she was the same calm and collected CSI she was on any other crime scene.

"OK, War, think. What can we do?" They stood there pensively until Catherine's eyes sparked with an idea. Her head snapped up to meet Warrick's gaze and she said, "Stay here, I'll be right back." With that, she turned on her heels and ran in the other direction.

As soon as she'd left, Warrick crept closer to Grissom's office to see if he could hear their conversation. He reached the first window and crouched to the ground so as to remain out of sight. Even though the blinds were shut, he didn't want to take a chance with his shadow or anything that could give him away and anger the man in Grissom's office. All he could hear was muffled words. They weren't speaking loud enough…

Someone grabbed his shoulder and he jumped back to standing position. He quickly took a step back out of sight from the window and turned around to see Sara stooping there trying to get ahead of him, her gun in hand.

"Sara! What are you doing?" he whispered harshly.

"I'm going to shoot him through the glass. I can't just sit here and not do anything." She said as she shot Warrick a glance over her shoulder.

"Sar, you can't do that! You don't know how he's rigged! You can't even see him. What if you shoot Grissom instead?" he said as he tried to pull her back behind him. She fought back.

"Let go of me! I have to help him."

"Sara, what if it's a release trigger?" Warrick suggested, keeping his grip on her, preventing her from getting in shooting stance. Her eyes considered this and she took a step back into Warrick's arms. He hugged his frightened friend from behind and took her gun from her, holstering it at his waist.

"Catherine has an idea, she said she'd be back quickly, just hang on." He reassured her quietly.

"And here I am…" Catherine had fingerprint powder and her duster in her hands. "If there's only one door and no windows that open, there's only one way in…it's worth a shot." She said and stepped in front of them, not knowing what Sara had just tried. Catherine kept herself low to the ground and silently dusted the doorknob and what she could of the door frame. From her back pocket she produced a couple tape lifters and lifted three prints. When she was done she left her duster and powder on the floor, removed her shoes, placing them silently on the ground, and ran down to the print lab. After explaining the situation to the print lab tech, she got him to bump all other priorities and run the three she'd just collected.

Fifteen minutes later, she ran back in stockinged feet to the hall where Warrick and Sara were left waiting but there was no one there. She quickly looked around and saw a light flicker towards Grissom's office. She followed the direction it came from and upon finding it's source, she saw Sara flicker a light towards the office again with Warrick standing in front of it.

"It's Jerome Thayer. Grissom testified against him 10 years ago…What are you guys doing?" she asked, noticing that they hadn't stopped their light show.

"We're trying to get Grissom to turn the desk light on and get the man…Jerome Thayer…to stand in front of it… like a spotlight. Then if we turn the hall lights off, we'll be able to see him and hopefully pick up on what kind of rigging he's got on."

"Oh, good thinking. In that case, I'm gonna go find Nick. We should let him in on this too…"

"Yeah you're right. He'll be pissed that we didn't get him sooner." Warrick watched her shuffle off.

A few minutes later, Warrick and Sara saw the light turn on in Grissom's office. Sara silently thanked the powers that be that Grissom was the intelligent man he was. That was one of the main reasons why she had fallen in love with him. She knew that now and for the second time in one day she was coming close to losing him. She felt tears sting her eyes and she shut them tightly trying to fight them off. She was startled back to reality when she heard Nick walk in saying, "I can't believe you guys didn't call me before now!"

"Nick, man, it wasn't planned…we were just thinking of ways to get Gris out of there…"

"Both of you shut up! Not now! Warrick I just remembered, I saw his trigger when he opened the blinds earlier. It's just a button…not a release trigger!" Catherine almost shouted.

"That's great! Perfect! Sara hit the hall lights!"

Sara quickly obeyed and they were soon standing in near darkness. Nick pulled the pistol from Warrick's belt and stode confidently over to Grissom window.

"Hey Nick, hang on. We only get one shot at this. Who's the marksman here?" They all looked at each other. Sara raised her hands in a 'not me' gesture.

"Ok, well, who got what on their last proficiency testing?" he suggested. "I got an 87."

"89." Warrick gave.

Catherine's eyes grew a little wider, "92." She said, realizing it was up to her.

"Ok then, Cath, you're it." Nick said, handing her the pistol he'd taken from Warrick.

Catherine took the gun from her co-worker's, watched his eyes for a moment and closed her own in silent prayer. A prayer to God…to Lindsay…to Grissom. Too much was at stake here. _One shot. I cannot screw this up._ she thought.

"You can do this Cath" she heard Warrick say and she opened her eyes to him. And with that, she walked off toward her boss' office, her lack of shoes making her approach undetectable. When she reached her chosen spot she knelt on one knee to gain more stability. She could see two shadowy figures and it took her no time at all to determine which one was Jerome Thayer and which was Grissom. She took a deep breath in one last attempt to calm her nerves. Deciding to shoot for the head since shooting him in the chest was taking chances with dynamite and shooting him in the leg would keep him alive and that was taking chances with a psychotic mind who would still be able to hit the trigger button.

She raised her right arm and braced it with her left. She shut one eye and with the other looked through the aperture. Her finger tightened on the trigger as she held her breath. She heard the shot before she realized she'd pulled the trigger completely. Glass shattered and the blinds shook with the impact, but they still shielded the view of the scene beyond them. There was no sound other than glass shattering to the ground and the blinds shaking. Nick was the first to reach the window. He parted the blinds slowly to one side to gain visual access to Grissom's office. Catherine dropped her gun to the floor as Warrick helped her to her feet and Sara approached Nick's side, searching for an answer. He turned to her and smiled wearily, then turned to Catherine.

"They should bump that 92 to an even 100." Catherine let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and Warrick wrapped his arms around her for congratulations and support. "That's my girl." He cooed. Catherine was shaking from the adrenaline rush and Warrick's warmth was welcomed.

"Gris?" Nick called out. A few seconds went by before the group got an answer.

"Yeah." They heard a breathy sigh escape from the window and the door unlocked to reveal a shock-faced Gil Grissom.

The second word out of his mouth was, "Sara…"

"Grissom…" Sara said as she left Nick's side and closed the distance between them. She threw herself in his arms as he wrapped them around her.

"I love you they both said simultaneously. Surprised at the other's admission, they both pulled back a little to look at each other, then collapsed in a hug once more. When they released each other the second time, partially, not wanting to sever the connection completely, Grissom asked, "Who took that shot?"

"Hawkeye over here did." Warrick said, giving Catherine a little squeeze with his arm still around her shoulders.

"And who's idea was the light flickering?"

"That was a combined effort between Sara and I." Warrick explained.

"Ok, so that give you the responsibility of calling this in to Brass." Grissom said, turning to Nick with a small smile. He thought for a moment and added, "and we'll need statements from all of you."

"Consider it done." Nick said, his cell phone already in hand.

"Always the supervisor aren't you?" Catherine teased. Grissom smiled and slipped his arm around Sara's waist before saying, "Sorry. It's a habit…thank you, everyone. Maybe I'll have to organize some extra time off for this…"

They all smiled, despite knowing how much paperwork they had ahead of them.

**A/N: Hey…so let me know what you think, positive criticism appreciated! I'm not sure exactly where to go from here, so if you also have ideas, pass them along. THX!**


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